============================================================ T H E G A M E S A R C H I V E N E W S L E T T E R ============================================================ No. 8 * Keen 2000 Special * http://www.dosgamesarchive.com ------------------------------------------------------------ We are sorry ------------------------------------------------------------ Due to a problem with our e-mail software, the previous newsletter was sent too soon; it wasn't completed yet. The articles which weren't completed are the special about Commander Keen 2000, the 'game wanted' section and the results of the WebPoll. Sorry for the inconvenience! Here is the complete version of the 8th issue. ------------------------------------------------------------ Welcome ------------------------------------------------------------ Welcome to the latest issue of The Games Archive Newsletter, with a special about Commander Keen 2000 and the history of the original games, created by Apogee and id Software. We also got a lot of new members. Thanks to all of them who signed up! If you have any ideas for future content/articles to include in our newsletter, we would like to hear from you! Please e-mail us at: webmaster@dosgamesarchive.com Feel free to forward this newsletter to any of your friends. ------------------------------------------------------------ Table of contents ------------------------------------------------------------ + What's new on The Games Archive? - Frequently Asked Questions + Keen 2000 Special - History Keen Series - Nintendo - Why "The Universe is Toast" never came out - Quake - Keen 2000 + Game tip - Wolfenstein 3D + Top 10 downloads + Wanted! - Round 42, Command HQ and Bouncing Babies - Elite - Old games collection + WebPoll + Site tip - SaveGamesNet ===================== Sponsor message ====================== Speed up and resume broken downloads with Go!Zilla 3.5. Go for the freeware version and more information to this URL: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/gozilla.html ============================================================ ------------------------------------------------------------ What's new on The Games Archive? ------------------------------------------------------------ -- Frequently Asked Questions ------------------------------ We have added a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to our download guide. The download guide helps visitors with downloading and running the game or application on their computer. We have made the FAQ because we got a lot of e-mails with questions about our download guide. FAQ: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/faq.html Download guide: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/dowguide.html ------------------------------------------------------------ Keen 2000 Special ------------------------------------------------------------ -- History Keen Series ------------------------------------- In September of 1990, a group of game developers from Softdisk, a computer software publisher in Shreveport, Los Angeles, moonlighted by working on a project utilizing an engine that Softdisk didn't want used in their own games. Why? Because the engine didn't work in CGA, like the rest of the company's games. That turned out to be a big mistake. The game the group had developed was released as shareware in December, and in January the group left Softdisk based on the game's success to start their own company. The rest, as they say, is history. That little company was called id Software; the company that went on to produce such megahits as Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, and Quake. Their first game? Commander Keen. Commander Keen is a pretty fine platform game in which you play a boy genius, Billy Blaze. You have to collect toys and candies. There are weird enemies in the game. The game isn't only for kids, it's a true delight for gamers of all ages. We will begin with a short history about the first episodes of the Commander Keen series. - "Invasion of the Vorticons" (episodes 1-3) was published by Apogee Software on December 14th, 1990. - "Goodbye Galaxy" (episodes 4 and 5) was also published by Apogee Software. This series of Commander Keen was released sometime around June of 1991. There was also a special CGA edition of Keen 4 and 5 made. The game is functionally exactly the same as the standard EGA version of the game. - "Aliens ate my Babysitter" (episode 6) was distributed by FormGen and id Software. This product is also sold by Apogee, but Apogee only resells this product, they don't actually distribute it. FormGen also decided to put off-disk copy protection on the full version of this game. Furthermore, FormGen also had a playable 3 level commercial demo available for perusal before purchase. Apogee Software sells a version of Keen 6 in CGA. - "Keen Dreams" (lost episode) was distributed by id Software and Softdisk. Keen Dreams has a kind of an interesting story. Before the quys at id Software actually formed id, the majority of them worked at Softdisk. The founding members of id Software left Softdisk to do the Vorticons series of Keen (episodes 1-3) for Apogee Software. However, they were contractually obligated to deliver another game to Softdisk, and since development had started on the Galaxy series, they threw together a Keen game for Softdisk, and Keen Dreams was born. This game is not sold by Apogee Software, nor does Apogee have anything at all to do with it. -- Nintendo ------------------------------------------------ The Commander Keen engine wasn't originally intended for Commander Keen. Tom Hall, creator of Commander Keen, recalls the first game made with the side-scrolling engine: The first game was actually a joke. It was called Dangerous Dave in "Copyright Infringement". John Carmack had just gotten a little guy to move around over a tile map, and I looked over at the Nintendo in the corner. I said, "Wouldn't it be funny to make the first level of Super Mario 3... tonight?" Carmack smiled and said, "Let's do it!" I copied the tiles pixel for pixel and made a map out of them while Carmack feverishly programmed the guy landing on ground tiles and getting coin tiles. At 5:30 in the morning, we dumped that on John Romero's desk and went home to crash. Romero played it all the next day, saying "This could make so much money!" It was pitched to a friend of a friend at Nintendo, and they liked it so much, they wanted a demo. We added Mario graphics and Koopas and stuff, and sent it to them. It apparently got to the head guys at Nintendo, but they didn't want to enter the PC market. Softdisk didn't want to use the smooth scrolling trick Carmack had discovered (since it didn't also work in CGA), so we thought, well, if they don't want it, we could do something ourselves... So we thought, hey, we'll make our own game. We needed a topic. I asked if they cared what topic-sci-fi, fantasy, whatever. I think Carmack mentioned a kid that saves the galaxy or something. I went off and fifteen minutes later, came back with the paragraph that you see in Keen 1. I read it in a Walter Winchell voice (he's a nasal 40s radio/newsreel announcer). Carmack clapped after I was finished, and we were off and running. We got contacted by Scott Miller of Apogee, and once Keen was published, it was making enough for us to live on, so we quit and formed id. Imagine what would have happened when id Software had gone to work for Nintendo! ===================== Sponsor message ====================== Interested in Keen Dreams? You could buy it for only $9,95 in our online shop! The shop is made possible by Softdisk. http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/shop/keendrms.html ============================================================ -- Why "The Universe is Toast" never came out -------------- If you played Keen 5, there was a screen that said something to the effect of "Join us in December 1992 for the greatest Keen adventure yet". There was a picture of Keen smiling, with a Santa Claus hat on. At the time, id Software was intending to do a third series of Commander Keen, tentatively entitled "Commander Keen: The Universe is Toast". However, other projects came up (Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny and later Doom). At this time, there is no development going on in the Commander Keen department. On a different note, Commander Keen, and artifacts from the Keen games have found their way into other games. Commander Keen is listed in the default scoreboards of a handful of Apogee games, mentioned in the instructions of one, and has made a few more prominent appearances. We don't know about you, but we sure would like to see "The Universe is Toast" be completed and released, so here is our idea. If we all send a bunch of e-mail to id Software, they just might complete the game for all of us! Their e-mail address is webmaster@idsoftware.com. -- Quake --------------------------------------------------- Commander Keen also contains the public announcement of the game that would revolutionize online gaming: Quake. This is from the previews section of Commander Keen, and remember, this was 1990! COMING SOON FROM ID SOFTWARE As our follow-up to the Commander Keen trilogy, id Software is working on "The Fight for Justice", a completely new approach to fantasy gaming. You start not as a weakling with no food--you start as Quake, the strongest, most dangerous person on the continent. You start off with a Hammer of Thunderbolts, a Ring of Regeneration, and a trans-dimensional artifact. Here the fun begins. You fight for Justice, a secret organization devoted to vanquishing evil from the land! This is role-playing excitement. And you don't chunk around the screen. "The Fight for Justice" contains fully animated scrolling backgrounds. All the people you meet have their own lives, personalities, and objectives. A 256-color VGA version will be available (smooth scrolling 256-color screens --fancy that)! And the depth of play will be intense. No more "whack whack here's some gold." There will be interesting puzzles and decisions won't be "yes/no" but complex correlations of people and events. "The Fight for Justice" will be the finest PC game yet. The title was renamed to "Quake: The Fight for Justice", but the latter part was later dropped. The Quake we all know isn't very much like the original description, but that's probably a good thing. -- Keen 2000 ----------------------------------------------- "Why is this special called Keen 2000?", do you think. Well, there is a new version of Keen! Unfortunately, the game isn't made by Apogee or id Software... but by one person, A.R. The game is made with Klik & Play and it runs under Windows. Below is the story line of Commander Keen 2000: January 1, 2000 - A hail of meteors slam into the Earth. Hundreds are dead. January 11, 2000 - Kid Genius Billy Blaze (AKA Commander Keen) receives an anonymous tip on his intergalactic cellular phone that Mortimer McMire, other kid genius, is responsible for the meteor shower. He's told that McMire plans to launch a thousand more meteors into the earth from his secret base on planet Ceti Alpha 6. "This is a monstrous injustice!" thinks Billy, as he dons his brother's NEW football helmet and becomes... Commander Keen! Defender of the Galaxy! Keen immediately leaves for Ceti Alpha 6. You can download the game from this URL: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/ck2000.zip A.R. can be reached at ruimy@sympatico.ca Softdisk Publishing: http://www.softdisk.com id Software: http://www.idsoftware.com Apogee Software: http://www.apogee1.com Nintendo: http://www.nintendo.com Special thanks to All-You-Can-Eat Commander Keen and ClassicGaming for providing the information about the history of the games. All-You-Can-Eat Commander Keen: http://users.mvillage.com/chm219/keendreams/index.html ClassicGaming: http://www.classicgaming.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Game tip ------------------------------------------------------------ Title: Wolfenstein 3D Developer: id Software Publisher: Apogee Software File size: 732 kB Year: 1992 Version: Shareware 1.0 Rating: [x][x][x][x][x] You are William J. Blazkowicz, the Allies' bad boy of espionage and a terminal action seeker. Your mission was to infiltrate the Nazi fortress Castle Hollehammer and find the plans for Operation Eisenfaust, the Nazi blueprint for building the perfect army. Rumor has it that deep within the castle, the diabolical Dr. Schabbs has perfected a technique for building a fierce army from the bodies of the dead. The idea is so far removed from reality that it would seem silly if it weren't so sick. But what if it were true? As an escaped prisoner in a Nazi war prison, you will move smoothly through a 3D world of nice detail and animation, a sensational and realistic environment with intelligent moving guards and opponents. Screenshot: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/images/wolf3d.gif If you want to download this game, go to our site at http://www.dosgamesarchive.com. Choose 'Games' in the frame to the left and select 'Wolfenstein 3D'. You will get a HTML document with some information about the game. On the bottom of the page you will find a link with which you can download Wolfenstein 3D. ------------------------------------------------------------ Top 10 downloads ------------------------------------------------------------ The following games are most downloaded from our site: 1. Prince of Persia 2 6. DOOM 2. TIE Fighter 7. Wacky Wheels 3. Pinball Fantasies 8. Ninja Rabbits 4. Cannon Fodder 9. Worms 5. Mario 10. Wolfenstein 3D ------------------------------------------------------------ Wanted! ------------------------------------------------------------ In this section you will find postings from our message board. Most people are looking for a game that isn't in our archive. Maybe other visitors (or readers of this newsletter) own the game. Then they could contact the person who has written the message. -- Round 42, Command HQ and Bouncing Babies ---------------- > "I am looking for 3 games: Round 42, Command HQ, and > Bouncing Babies. If anyone knows where I can get any of > these, please contact me at ajk22@juno.com." Andrew - ajk22@juno.com -- Elite --------------------------------------------------- > "Remember the game "Elite"... in a space craft travelling > from one planet to the next trading and fighting. Let me > know if you know where to find it."Bruce Shelley - bruce. shelley@auditnz.govt.nz -- Old games collection ------------------------------------ > "Hi all, > I am interested in building up a collection of older > games. A realy good game that I would realy like to get my > hands on again was a game called snake by Philip Deacon > which consisted of snake.com, snake.doc and snake.hi (if > you were lucky enough to get high scores). > If anyone has this game or knows of any general sights to > download old games such as Round 42, Tune Trivia, Digger > (uncracked original boot disc image) etc., then please > email to this address: andrew@hodgsons.freeserve.co.uk. > I have already a lot of older games, so trading isn't a > problem." Andrew Hodgson - andrew@hodgsons.freeserve.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------ WebPoll ------------------------------------------------------------ Here are the results of our WebPoll: What's your favorite browser? Netscape Navigator 49% 445 votes Internet Explorer 41% 377 votes Opera 6% 52 votes Other 5% 43 votes Total votes: 917 ------------------------------------------------------------ Site tip ------------------------------------------------------------ -- SaveGamesNet -------------------------------------------- On this site you can download save game files for several computer games. There are saves for MS-DOS and Windows games. Go to this site if you are stuck in a game! URL: http://www.savegames.net ------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks ------------------------------------------------------------ That's it for this issue of our newsletter. See you next issue and thanks for reading! ____________________________________________________________ If you want to unsubscribe from this mailing list, mail to webmaster@dosgamesarchive.com and write down the following information: UNSUBSCRIBE your@email